Lit Review: Gen Y

Educational Horizons 2010
Gen Y: Who they are and how they learnBy: Alison Black

Teaching today’s students is a very daunting task to undertake as an educator. In order to engage the Gen Y student you need to incorporate technology into everything you do in your classroom. Students today are not the pen and paper type of learners. They are unable to sit and listen to a lecture in class and be able to take anything educational away from it. They need to be “entertained” using some sort of technology to gain their attention in class. Today’s students are very dependent on technology. They need to use it in all aspects of their lives using a cell phone, computer, or gaming system. Of the three I mentioned almost every student has at least two of them if not all of them. So since technology is such a huge factor in the Gen Y era than why is it so many teachers are not able to teach them? A majority of today’s teachers are know as “digital immigrants”, people who were not brought up using technology. They still tend to teach their classes today the same way they would 10 years ago. In order for you to be successful as an educator today you would need to insert technology into your lesson plans and into your classroom as a whole. To grab the students attention and to get them interested in what is being taught they need to learn using the tools that they are familiar with. Technology is today and is our future in teaching so in order for us to be able to educate our kids we need to educate the digital natives. They are the ones who educate our future and to be able to make progress towards our future, our past needs to be educated by Gen Y.http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ872487.pdf

Essential Question 1

                In order to provide all students with access to the digital world you need to be able to have many types of multimedia devices in your classroom.  For all students to be well educated they need to be properly trained with new and old technology.  Today’s students understand how to operate a lot of the technology that is in our world today.  They were born into this era where technology is at their finger tips and for them to learn how to work with it comes pretty naturally.  Not all students will be able to comprehend how to use certain devices due to their learning disabilities.  Students who do have disabilities such as blindness or being deaf there is technology out there for them to use to make their life a little bit easier.  Students that I work with are autistic or intellectually disabled (ID) have devices that talk for them or communicate for them when needed.  So all students do have the opportunity to learn using technology and right now in the 21^st century it would be pretty hard to go through a school day without using a computer or any type of technology.  Technology is everywhere and now we need to use it to our advantage.    

A virtual Classroom.....good or bad?

ETT21 #150:  Barbara Brueggemann, Head of School at the GWU Online High School

Few Notes:

Full online school aimed towards 9-12^th graders

16 students

Opportunity to create a dream high school

Almost no restrictions i.e. size of class and # of students who want to take that class

Launched first cohort in January

12^th grade will work with a professor at George Washington University

9^th and 10^th just started

Self paced

Virtual classroom

Meet weekly

                I enjoy the idea of a virtual classroom but I feel it is not as useful to the students or teacher as a class held in person in a classroom.  Some virtual classrooms do not have the use of Skype so how do you know if you really have that student present?  For all the teacher knows is that is a friend helping out or if it is the student how are you sure that they have their full attention and they are not playing video games online or doing house chores during class?  For me, not being able to interact with a live person, that being the teacher, and having that personal one-to-one greeting is harmful.  Right now in schools we preach to students to not be afraid of teachers and get to know them because they are there for you and that they care.   Not getting to know your teacher or student is not a “healthy” relationship.  I feel that meeting the teacher in person they can see that you are working hard, know if you are stuck on a certain issue in the chapter, or that there is something personal about you that they understand and then can grade based on that personal trait is a huge gain for the students and the teacher.  Being able to watch a student in your class and see how they respond to the work that is given to them can help both of you in the long run being teacher experience and the ability to understand and learn the material.  In the future a virtual classroom would be a great idea if all students had a visual of a teacher, their peers, and vice versa.  Right now with technology the virtual classroom is a good idea but with so many loop holes to cover and fill I feel that the original, old school type of learning in the classroom is the best route to travel….for now!

About me....

My name is John and i live in Nashua, NH. I work at Pennichuck Middle School as a one-on-one paraprofessional in an intensive needs classroom.  My student is "ID" (intellectuall disabled) formally know as "MR".  He is always smiling and laughing which is a good thing to see everyday...cheers you up if your down!!  I am looking for a computer technology job as an educator in any middle school.  I am a big fan of sports and amything that is electronic!  I am looking foward to EDU 533 because I like to learn new things about technology!!